Yahya Jammeh

“Dead men don’t vote,” said a Gambian political activist known as Mama Africa. She spoke during an event on the side-lines of the 59th Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights (ACHPR) held in Gambia’s capital Banjul last month. The focus was the crackdown on freedom of expression and assembly ahead of the 2016 presidential elections.

Last July marked 19 years of Gambian President Yahya Jammeh’s inordinately long rule. His legacy during this time is to mark his country as one of the most unapologetically repressive states in Africa.